


To Have, To Hold, Tonight

by PepperF



Series: jack_built [7]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Humor, Romance, jack_built
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-18
Updated: 2011-06-18
Packaged: 2017-10-20 12:47:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/212934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PepperF/pseuds/PepperF
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"No, really, it's okay. I should've known. This is how my luck runs."</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Have, To Hold, Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> I think this is the last one I'm doing, at least of this storyline (but, of course, anyone else can take it and run with it).

The footsteps were distinctively uneven, and ominously squelchy. Janet paused on the stairs, and peered down, trying to stay out of sight. You learned the most interesting things in the hallways of the building if people were unaware they were being observed.

"Sorry."

"No, really, it's okay. I should've known. This is how my luck runs."

Sam and Mr. O'Neill (although it was probably about time they all started calling him Jack) were just coming in through the front door. And Sam... was wet. Not just 'been out in a rainstorm' wet, either; from head to toe, and including every article of clothing from her stretching pullover to her squelching shoes, she was soaked through. Drenched. She looked as though she'd been immersed. Behind her trailed drips and wet footprints.

Jack was helping her to his door, looking and sounding very, very contrite. "We'll get you straight into a hot bath. And I have a foolproof recipe for keeping colds away, it's been passed down in my family for generations, probably brought over from the old country."

"I just want to go back to bed." There was a pause. "My bed." Janet's eyebrows shot up.

"Of course. But you need to get warmed up first, and take a wash – river water can be full of all sorts of... Maybe I should get Janet?"

Janet tensed – but Sam shrugged wearily. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm not made of sugar; I won't melt."

"It looked like you swallowed half the river when you fell in, Sam."

"Seriously, I'm fine."

"Okay. Okay, but you tell me the minute you start feeling at all sick, okay?"

"Okay."

They paused at his front door, Sam leaning against the wall while Jack hunted for his keys. Janet moved down a step to keep them in sight. "I really am sorry," he said again. "I've seen your luck, after all. I should've realized that a Duck Tour would make a terrible first date."

Jack finally got his door open, but Sam stayed leaning against the wall beside it. Her smile, although soggy, was bright with laughter and... something else. Jack stopped, and although Janet couldn't see his expression from her perch on the stairs, she got the impression that their legendarily grumpy building manager was smiling back. He reached out a hand, and brushed a damp strand from Sam's face. "Let's get you dry," he said, softly.

Together, they hobbled into his apartment, and the door closed behind them.

\---

Some hours later, Jack opened his door, and looked around – but there was no-one to be seen. When he glanced down, he saw the basket. He picked it up, reading the label.

'For Sam.'

Inside, there were a series of small items, each tied in a cloth bag. Frowning, he carried it back inside, to where Sam was cuddled up on the couch, wrapped in blankets and sipping a mysterious, heady concoction (he had refused to tell her his secret family recipe, stating only that no, it did not involve beer).

"This was outside," he said, in response to her enquiring look. She shifted to let him sit back where he'd been before – cuddled up beside her, her head resting comfortably against his shoulder (his intentions had been platonic and warming – two hours ago). She took the basket, tugging the label around so she could read it.

"Cassie's handwriting," she observed.

"Yeah, I got that." Well, he'd assumed it was either Cassie, or Rodney had electrocuted himself again.

Sam was already tugging open the tie on one of the bags. She was just quick enough to catch the handful of blue marbles that tumbled out. "Huh?" She glanced up, but Jack was just as baffled as she looked. She dropped the marbles back into the basket. "Janet thinks I've lost my marbles?" she suggested. She opened another bag. Inside, was a well-chewed toy mouse. "This is Thor's favorite," she said, confusion deepening.

Each bag contained a different item, with no apparent unifying theme or connection. Jack hooked the table with one foot and pulled it closer so she could lay everything out. The explanation dawned on him when Sam came across a card with a clover glued to it, a fourth leaf added with childish care, the whole framed with macaroni and frosted with glitter glue. "They're good luck charms."

Blue marbles; Thor's favorite cat toy; a four-leafed clover; a little red bag, sealed with a white knot; a stone with a hole through it; a bracelet of painted wooden beads; a medal with a crucifix and letters in a circle around it; a piece of blue glass, sea-washed smooth and opaque; a ticket stub to a long-ago Red Sox game; a Buddha pendant; a flat piece of slate with a rune inscribed on it; a small model airplane; a scrap of lacy, hot pink silk that he rather suspected was underwear, but which Sam quickly tucked under the other stuff, muttering, "Vala"; a couple of different candles – one red and tall, one green and squat; a handful of fortune cookies; a strawberry-shaped keyring with a bell inside; a band of brightly-colored threads, woven together... Sam held up a small teddy bear in a letterman jacket. "This is Liz's exam bear," she said, huskily. She opened the last bag, and out fell a strip of pills with 'Doxycycline' printed across them, a miniature first aid kit, and a small box of condoms. Sam blushed, but added them to the pile nevertheless. "Janet," she explained. "She believes in making your own luck."

They stared at the miscellaneous collection in silence. "Wow," said Jack, eventually. "They're really worried about you, huh?"

"Well, if someone saw the state of me when we got back this afternoon, I can understand why," she remarked. "All this is just.... amazingly sweet. I can't believe they've done it. This must be from nearly everyone I know in the building. And yet..." She fell silent, and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. Jack wrapped his arm a little tighter around her, and resettled the blanket.

"And yet?"

Sam shifted around until she lay comfortably in his arms, looking up at him, her expression unguarded. "I think I'm happy with my luck just the way it is," she said, candidly.

And then he had to kiss her, of course. There was really no other rational response.

\---

END.


End file.
